From Field to Port: The Impact of Transportation Policies on the Competitiveness of Brazilian and U.S. Soybeans

摘要

Due to increased international consumption, soybeans have become one of the world's topcommodities. The world's two largest soybean exporters, Brazil and the United States ofAmerica, possess unique agricultural commodity production and transportation infrastructureschemes. The purpose of this article is to examine the differences between the two countries'transportation systems and infrastructure, and how these differences affect their respectivecommodity transportation policies. First, a theoretical overview of the essential roletransportation plays in business logistics is given, followed by an analysis and comparison of theBrazilian and U.S. transportation systems. Drawing upon previous USDA studies of U.S. andBrazilian commodity transportation, landed cost price formation analyses are performed, takinginto account production, internal transportation and freight tariffs, and examples of landed costprice formation are given to enrich the information provided. It is shown that, in certain cases,Brazilian internal soybean transportation costs can represent 310% of those of the U.S. Based onthe literature review provided, some concluding remarks are offered on the effect oftransportation policies on the total landed cost of soybeans on the world marketplace and reasonsare given as to why Brazilian soybeans suffer a competitive disadvantage from field to port.Finally, some commentary is offered on the current situation and what could be done topotentially improve Brazilian internal transportation policies.